Havards Blackmoor Blog

New Campaign!

2012-01-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

I have decided to venture into a new kind of gaming. Finding players in this day and age is difficult and finding time to get together and play even more so. Over the last few years I have been enjoying Rafe's Last Fantasy Campaign PbP. So I have decided I want to try this type of gaming from the DM's side as well. A group of high quality players have agreed to join me as I take my first baby steps into a new kind of DMing. I have been getting good advice from the Comeback Inn posters and preliminary discussions about the campaign have started here.

-Havard

WotC Fails to Credit D&D Co-Creator.

2012-01-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

While I was thrilled to see AD&D 1st Edition being brought back into print, even if just as a limited print run, exclusively to a US audience, I was rather dismayed at how the announcement was phrased:

1st Edition Premium Player's Handbook
In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.
To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release. Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America.
Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize the “Father of Roleplaying Games” with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI.
Item Details
Item Code: 02410000
Release Date: April 17, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 112
Price: $34.95
ISBN: 978-0-7869-6243-3

I think using this money to support the Gygax Memorial Fund is a great idea and a worthy cause. However, what happened to the other guy? Does he not deserve even to be mentioned even in the announcement? "the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game"? "his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today?" Wasn't there another guy contributing with a couple of fairly essential ideas to this game as well? I'm not saying they have to build a statue of Dave or anything, but they could at least remember to give him credit for the game he was essential to help making 3 years after his passing.

Thanks to the person who brought this to my attention. You know who you are.

-Havard

Infernal Machines of Blackmoor

2012-01-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

This is the painting that graced the cover of DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor. The painting is called 'the Infernal Machine' and is made by Jeff Easley, one of the artists that defined the fantasy genre for me. In addition to the machine itself and the people trying to escape its destructive path, the painting shows a dwarf who may be responsible for the whole mess.

I asked Jeff Easley what sort of direction he may have received for the painting. Jeff's memory was hazy on the subject (this was a long time ago), but here is what he said:

"I suspect it could have been no more direction than being told to paint a big nasty machine mowing people down. Art suggestions ran the full gamut of complexity, from an oral 3 line description to a number of written half page essays. "

I wonder if the editor (Deborah Ritchie) was thinking back to an obscure reference in the FFC saying that:

"[Gypsy Sayings could] allow the players a chance to get out of the steam roller's way"

Huge Steam Tech Machinery of dwarven make was revisited in the ZGG Blackmoor line with the Dwarven Steam Bore and other similar devices. These were first described in the Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Campaign Setting and further detailed in the supplement Clock & Steam:

The FFC also mentions a magical device called a "Borer", although the description of that item suggests a much smaller portable device. These huge hulks do seem to be doing a good job of giving the dwarves of Blackmoor some respect though!

-Havard

PS: Thanks to R Scott Taylor for providing me with the Easley painting!

My charcter just died!

2012-01-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

Alright, nobody panic. I am not about to do anything irrational. It looks like our ongoing PbP, the "Last Fantasy Campaign" just shifted gear and is moving towards its end. Is our quest to rid the world of the Egg of Coot once and for all going to end in a TPK? We are certainly not the first to have perished at such a foolhardy task. I take comfort in the thought that my character, General Harwan, was killed in the same moment as the grandson of the Great Svenny, played by Greg Svenson from Arneson's original group.

Here is the last moment of General Harwan:

"At the same time, Harwan, around whom James' remaining soldiers have begun to return to a formation, is hit in the face, by the shaft of an Orcish axe, right in that long, painful moment when he sees his friend die... With a warrior's instinct, he rises his shield to parry another blow, but that way, gives an opening down below...He doesn't see or feel the axe, but when he sees into the eyes of his murderer, his own black sword still in hand, all he feels is the cold..."

Wait a minute. My 9th level fighter was killed by an Orc??? How embarassing is this? I am reminded of the dying words of Lindsey McDonald, a villain/hero character from Joss Whedon's Angel:

"You kill me? A flunky?! I'm not just... Angel... kills me! You don't... Angel..."

To my defense, it was an army of them, and severa of them were mounted on dragons. All in all it was a fun game. Death is part of the game and General Harwan, a military man, would not have liked to grow old. His life was dedicated to the defense of Blackmoor, a sort of analogy to my own efforts here on this blog. But dont worry, even if things look bad for our party in the PbP Campaign, I will go on promoting Blackmoor :)

-Havard

Webite overhaul and other good news!

2012-01-14T04:02:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days I have been working on massively overhauling my website, the Blackmoor Archives. In addition to a massive facelift, I have added several new sections to the site and working to make the connections between this blog, the Archives and the Forum more seamless. I am pretty happy with the results so far, but will be fiddling with details over the next few weeks I suppose :)

In other news, new MMRPG downloadable files have been added to the forum. Also we are now 160 people reading this blog! A warm welcome to member 160. Anything you can do to spread the word is appreciated.

-Havard

Piazza Member to design 5E.

2012-01-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Monte Cook

Although he is better known for other things such as being one of the main designers behind 3E and his previous work for TSR and ICE, Monte Cook also has a "shady" past as a member of the Piazza. ;) I remember being very happy when the designer of Glantri: Kingdom of Magic signed up to the forum to talk about Mystara with us. G:KoM was perhaps not the best recieved Mystara product, but that had more to do with excecutive decisions than with what Monte did with the assignment given to him.

Robert J Schwalb

Another excellent RPG designer on the 5E design team, Robert J Schwalb, also has a connection to the community. He has made a long list of classic D&D monster conversions to 3E which all appear on the Vaults of Pandius.

I see alot of optimism concerting 5E even on old school gamer discussion boards. Having these two excellent designers on the team definately cannot hurt! :)

-Havard

Image Sources
Monte Cook
Robert Schwalb

D&D 5E Announced

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Although speculations have been going on for a good while, its nice to have it confirmed:

NY Times.

Confirmed over at Wizards.com.

Announcing a new edition so early is usually a bad idea as 4E product sales will most likely go downhill from here . Is this evidence that it is impossible to keep a secret in this age of the Internet? The recent Escapist articles gave us some insight about how those inside the industry view the future of the hobby. This was also supplemented by Ryan Dancey's commentary. How will these thoughts shape a new edition?

Is Monte Cook's involvement a sign that 4E stepped too far from the roots and that 5E will be an attempt to bring the game back?

-Havard

Found this image here.

[Race] Ursai, the Bearfolk

2012-01-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

One of the iconic elements of the Last Fantasy Campaign has been the race of the Ursai. Created by Rizak the Really Horrible and Rafael, this race of Bearmen has become so prominent that even I now associate it with Blackmoor. Finally I managed to trick Rizak into doing a writeup of the Ursai today which he has posted here.

-Havard

Img Source

Thorn's Blackmoor: Wild Magic of the North

2012-01-05T07:01:00.000-08:00

Here's the second installment from guest blogger RobJN. Read his first entry here. Rob is also a regular at the Comeback Inn Forum.

After a thousand years, the last thing the Great Thonian Republic wanted was disorder creeping into the cogs of its structured and ordered society. They were content to let the lawless barbarians have the lands to the North, with their swamps and endless lakes and forbidding mountains.

The North was the last refuge of natural chaos on Skothar — its forests and rivers and lakes were home to ever increasing numbers of dryads, nymphs, and sylphs driven from their ancestral lands by men from the South and their farmland and cultivation.

Like the moon and the oceans, the magics of the North ebbed and flowed, waxed and waned. At the center, as awash in magic as it was the waters of the Black Sea from which it rose, was the spire of black stone, at once natural and unnatural.

While some magical effects could be guessed due to the phase of the moons, or the stage of the oceans’ tides, more often than not mages were as surprised as their opponents when any given spell was cast to disastrous effect.

It was found, though, that in successive generations born in the North, those who had the ability to use magic suffered fewer and fewer mishaps. Some few were said to be able to use the North’s unpredictability to their own advantage, empowering their own spells while their opponent’s spells failed, misfired, or ran wild. It was unknown whether or not this ability was something inborn, or was something men of magic could learn.

Elves and the fey, of course, found Men’s blunderings with the wrinkled fabric of magics of the North rather amusing. Several Wizards of the Woods write of fortunes won and lost among the sidhe, who watched the wars of men from behind their Veils, wagering on the effect of this or that spell on the battlefield…

Some historians have guessed that it was the exposure to the “wild magics” that tamed the Beast Men, causing their stock to stabilize into the “common” goblinoid species men know of today. Some might go so far as to surmise that Blackmoor’s crusades against the Beast Men were as much in retaliation against their demon-worshipping ways as it was backlash against the growing incursions into the lands of men. Were the Beast Man invasions their attempt to reach and put an end to the source of energy that caused the steady decline in their own chaotic influence?

Given the effect tampering with those powers had in purging the planet of the scourge of demon kind, one shudders to think what could have happened with that kind of power bent to the will of the Beast Men and their Immortal patroness.

Rob’s blog and website chronicles a bit of a darker take on the Mystara presented in the D&D Gazetteers. Thorn's Chronicle is posted semi-regularly on the Mystara board of The Piazza.

First Expedition to the City of the Gods

2012-01-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

In 1980 TSR published Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, possibly inspired by Gygax' experiences in the City of the Gods in 1976. Last year I talked about how the two Greyhawk heroes, Robilar and Mordenkainen almost lost their lives in this deadly place. It wasn't until 1987 that the City of the Gods became accessible to the general D&D fans in module DA3. However, Dave Arneson had been sending his players to the area since 1974. Dave Arneson's company Zeitgeist Games revisited the location in 2008 as part of their D20 line.

The first expedition to the City of the Gods is mentioned in JG's First Fantasy Campaign. Was the City always a space ship? Visitors from futuristic interstellar civilizations had been visiting Blackmoor since John Snider started his Star Empires campaign in early 1973 placing Blackmoor on his star map. This may have been what first brought the science fantasy twist to Arneson's campaign and may have been the direct inspiration for the City of the Gods.

What we do know is that the City of the Gods was a deadly place. Mordenkainen and Robilar were lucky enough to escape the City alive. The first group exploring the area were not so lucky. The Wizard of the Woods (Pete Gaylord) and a Peshwa Nomad Hero (Dale Norman) lost their lives on this expedition. Those who did return did not look back.

-Havard

Discussion of this article.

2012!

2012-01-01T06:07:00.000-08:00

Just had to share this picture that I found here. Does anyone know the story behind it? All the best wishes for 2012. With the Hobbit, Prometheus and the Avengers movies coming out, I know it will be a pretty good movie year. I think it will be a pretty good year or Blackmoor too! :)

-Havard

Have You Played with Dave Arneson?

2011-12-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

I got to meet Dave Arneson back in 2003, but I never got a chance to play with him. Poster Heymikey over at the Comeback Inn is collecting reports from actual play sessions with the man himself. Besides the Original Blackmoor Players, Dave has played with hundreds if not thousands of gamers over the years.

Dave Arneson at HURRICON 2007, Orlando, FL.

Not every gaming report is full of praise. Back in 2008, the Semper Initiative Blog reposted an old magazine article written back in 1976 by a less pleased player, Bill Paley. Still, Paley's report contained alot of interesting information that I have just gone through.

Did you ever get to play in Dave's games?

-Havard

Image Source

Yuletide Greetings!

2011-12-24T03:04:00.000-08:00

To my Gentle readers. I wish you all happy holidays!

-Havard

Last Fantasy Campaign Coming to an End?

2011-12-21T14:09:00.000-08:00

Our ongoing Blackmoor PbP Campaign, DMed by Rafael has been going on since 2005. The Last Fantasy Campaign as it has become known as, has become legendary in the realm of forum based gaming. Now it seems the grand finale is approaching. "The Promised Land and The Ghosts of Summer will be the final parts of the Last Fantasy Campaign." Rafael says. He continues:

"Furthermore, with the end of our current story arc, our ambitious project, The Last Fantasy Campaign, will achieve the goal we had set for it: To bring closure to all the main story arcs from the original Blackmoor setting, and to effectively write that epilogue that never was."

Read Rafael's full detail on his plans for the conclusion of this more than 6 year long campaign here.

-Havard

Hobbit Trailer

2011-12-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Yep, the trailer is out. This is the best Christmas present I could get. If you havent already seen it, you can find it here.

-Havard

Combining Worlds

2011-12-20T11:57:00.000-08:00

Some like to create their own RPG settings from scratch. Others like to use premade settings. A third group likes using elements from many different settings, combining them into a campaign world of your own. A world like Dave Arneson's Blackmoor lends itself very well to combining with other settings. It has rich detail on a small region of the world, but is very vague on what lies beyond the regional map of the North.

There are different approaches to combining settings. Some try to include everything from every setting they have ever heard of. Others pick the elements they like from each setting and combine those features instead. Robert Fisher's World of Kulan is an example of this latter approach.

My own approach is slightly more complicated. I want to use settings that have a connection to oneanother. So when choosing a setting for giving my Blackmoor a framework I chose Mystara. Almost every single Mystara sourcebook refers to Blackmoor as an era long gone. The Hollow World Boxed Set (for Mystara) gives a world map of that ancient era. However, not much in the Mystara material gives detail on what is found on the continent where Blackmoor is located. This is why I looked to the Wilderlands. The Wilderlands are also connected to Blackmoor through the FFC publication and the region called the Valley of the Ancients.

So instead of just picking elements at random, there is a system at work here. Maybe I am just a complicated fellow. In any case, we have opened up a forum for discussing Mystara's Blackmoor over at the Comeback Inn. If you are interested in this topic, please come and join our discussion! The Comeback Inn is also seeing other activity these days and more MMRPG files have just been uploaded to the Coot's Nest section.

Have you incorporated Blackmoor into your campaign setting?

-Havard

Thorn's Blackmoor

2011-12-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

That Blackmoor rose to great heights and then fell in a cataclysmic Rain of Fire is about all that is remembered of the kingdom and empire from four thousand years in the Known World’s past.

To most people of the Known World, the sable on argent represents a Black Eagle of Karameikos, not the Sweeping Hawk of Andahar. That name, if it is known, is only whispered in the deepest recesses of the great libraries in Sundsvall or Glantri City. The words of that house, though, live on in toasts raised over feast day tables, spoken after oaths and handshakes sealed a treaty that ended decades of war between Thyatis and Alphatia:

“Once and Always.”

Truer words have never been spoken. While the destruction and devastation of the Great Rain of Fire caught the Immortals off guard, the men of Blackmoor saw it the more they worked on Project Valkyrie.

For hundreds of years, the Northern Marches were all that stood between Tuska Rosa and her goal in the heart of the Thonian Empire. The Afridhi, which had crushed the Vales and ground the Duchy of Ten into submission found their fury thrown back into their teeth on the lances and swords of a ragtag, patchwork army of Northern barons.

The Afridhi came, again and again, stronger every time, their numbers bolstered by demons of shadow and flame.

But Blackmoor had the wild magics of the North, and Uther’s bargain ensured that the powers of the North would fight at the side of the barons.

“Once and Always,” was the oath spoken over that covenant.

While Blackmoor perished, drowned in fire and then the cold waters of the Northern Sea, the promise— and the line that had made it— was not broken.

Uther’s daughters survive, and will do so until the threats brought into the world by the Afridhi and the Beast Men are extinguished once and always…

Rob’s blog and website chronicles a bit of a darker take on the Mystara presented in the D&D Gazetteers. Thorn's Chronicle is posted semi-regularly on the Mystara board of The Piazza.

***

The Above is the first blog entry on this blog written by guest blogger RobJN, who also frequents the Comeback Inn. I have for a long time been fascinated by his ongoing series Thorn's Chronicle and I am very pleased when he agreed to write this piece for us. This might not be the last we hear from him here either!

-Havard

Cracked.com gives Arneson Credit

2011-12-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

Forum poster Mr_Roboto pointed out to me an interesting article over at Cracked.com which talks about the less known people behind pop culture icons. Cracked.com says the following about Dave Arneson:

With Arneson's influence, Chainmail was adapted to include:

- Exploring dungeons

- Using a neutral judge/dungeon master

- Conversations with imaginary characters (NPCs) to develop the storyline

- Hit points

- Experience points

- The concept of role-playing an individual character rather than just rolling dice

So, basically, he put the "R" in RPG.

While it is not the intention of this blogger to try to undermine the legacy of Gary Gygax (I also dont think that was the point of the Cracked article), it is nice to see Arneson get the credit he deserves.

-Havard

We Are On Facebook!

2011-12-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

You can now "Like" my blog on Facebook. Click on the Like button to the right, or visit the Facebook page here. This is all part of my plan to spread the word of Blackmoor to an even wider audience. What experience do you other bloggers have with using social media for pushing your blogs?

-Havard

MMRPG Season 2 Premiere!

2011-12-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

This is the latest update from the Comeback Inn, the Forum for Dave Arneson's Blackmor. I just uploaded the first episodes of Season 2 of the MMRPG. These free to download episodes are short adventure modules, easy to adapt to any edition. In addition I have uploaded two new Meta Organizations: The Eldritch Underground and the Topaz Eye as well as a few more MMRPG goodies. The Eldritch Underground is an organization of rogue arcane spellcasters fighting the dominance of the Wizards Cabal. The Topaz Eye is an organization of wizardly Diviners.

You find all your MMRPG downloads at the Coot's Watch section of the Comeback Inn.

-Havard

Mike Carr's Quasqueton

2011-12-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

I have previously talked about game designer Mike Carr on this blog, as he is one of the people who played in Dave Arneson's original Blackmoor group. I did an interview with Mike Carr last year which is available here. When it comes to D&D, Mike Carr is perhaps most famous for B1 In Search of the Unknown.
Just the other day, the Grognardia Blog revealed that there's a 1904 novel called In Search of the Unknown by Robert Chambers, who also wrote proto-Cthulhu stories in the King in Yellow.

As most of you will know this legendary adventure module tells the tales of the dubious characters Roghan and Zelligar and is set in a place called Quasqueton. Quasqueton, as it turns out is also a place in Iowa:

This factoid and more lore that has appeared on the internet over the years has just been collected by D&D researcher Paleologos in a pdf document called the B1 In Search of the Unknown Sourcebook. The pdf also contains new material by Paleologos and is available through the Zenopus Archives.

If you take another look at the map above, consider the fact that the original C&C Society World was based on a map of North America. Blackmoor was located somewhere in Minnesota. Greyhawk was the equivalent of Chicago. It would not be unreasonable to assume that Quasqueton would exist as Mike Carr's realm in this proto-setting? According to Carr himself, the module is not based on any actual campaign however. Further speculations of B1's connections to Blackmoor may be found here.

It was recently revealed that The Tomb of Horrors was written with both Greyhawk and Blackmoor in mind as possible locations for that adventure. It is now accompanied by B1 as two early era adventures not written by Dave Arneson with close ties to Blackmoor.

-Havard

Nystul and the Duchy of Ten

2011-12-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Many of you will know the story of the player and game designer Mike Nysul who gave his name to the spell Nystul's Magic Aura. Eventually Nystul also became a character in the Greyhawk setting. Later Greyhawk products describe Nystul as a citizen of Greyhawk's Duchy of Tehn where he, during the Greyhawk Wars, was active in evacuating refugees from the realm, as it was being invaded by outside forces.

Time to put on my Blackmoor glasses. Blackmoor's Duchy of Ten and Greyhawk's Duchy of Tehn both come from a realm in the C&C Society Setting. Blackmoor's Duchy of Ten also suffered from invading forces, which we know as the Afridhi under the leadership of Toska Rusa, Bride of Zugzul. Could not Blackmoor also have a Nystul the Wizard? The Tenians sure could use all the help they can get.

This got even more fun when I learned that Nystul also is a wizard in the Ultima games, which is where the image above is borrowed from.

More discussion of Nystul and Blackmoor's Duchy of Ten here!

-Havard

MMRPG Complete Season 1

2011-12-06T12:28:00.000-08:00

All of the episodes of season 1 of the Blackmoor MMRPG have now been uploaded to the Comeback Inn. In addition, you can now also download 5 other MMRPG documents, including the character creation rules and the two first Meta Organizations.

This inspired me to create this fake cover for Season 1. Hope you like it :)

-Havard

Change Ahead

2011-12-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

Working on some major changes at the Comeback Inn.

Stay tuned :)

-Havard

Latest Blackmoor Stuff

2011-11-29T09:31:00.000-08:00

So what's been happening in the world of Blackmoor fandom over the last few days? The Piazza is still on its temporary server. Over at the Comeback Inn, I have just uploaded another batch of Season 1 MMRPG episodes. I am trying to get an overview of how many different documents that were released in association with the MMRPG to see if I am missing any.

Harley Stroh just signed up to the forum which is cool, since in addition to him being a great game designer, he did the fiction work for the D20 Era Blackmoor books. I am hoping to get a chance to ask him more questions about his involvement with ZGG over the coming days and weeks.

Another interesting discussion that has come up is that of using Goodman Games' DCCRPG with Blackmoor. This is not something I would have thought of myself, but perhaps I should give this game another look?

-Havard

Pandius is not dead!

2011-11-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

Some of us recieved this message from Shawn at the Vaults of Pandius last week:

The following files have been loaded or updated on the Vaults of Pandius:
Several historic records relating to discussion on the MOrient team have been loaded. http://pandius.com/morient/morient.html
Story: Sulescu: The Warding Stone. http://pandius.com/Sulescu Book 1 - The Warding Stone.pdf
Bel Lendh Monandry: Subterranean realms below the Altan Tepes. http://pandius.com/Bel Lendh Monandry.pdf
Maps of The Ghost of Lion Castle. http://pandius.com/lioncstl.html
Rules Cyclopedia NPC Generator version 1.3. http://pandius.com/RulesCyclopediaNPCGeneratorv1_3.zip

Dare we hope this means the Vaults are truly back? :)

-Havard

Magical Swords

2011-11-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Magical Swords hold a special positition in D&D and also in Blackmoor. Dave Arneson dedicated several pages to Magical Swords in the First Fantasy Campaign. The most famous blades of the Blackmoor Campaign is probably the sword Maroon.

Another sword of great fame has its origins in Blackmoor. This is the fan created blade Arbus, the White Avenger, whos origins are chronicled by Blackmoor fan Demon Sachlas:

Arbus was forged in Blackmoor to serve as a companion blade to the famous White Sword. Unfortunately, it was stolen before it was ever used in Blackmoor by agents of the Empire of Thonia. It was subsequently turned over to a Thonian paladin by a devious emperor with none the wiser to its abduction. The White Avenger obtained its nickname in those days as the great paladin - Sir Galladon of Etheria - used it to smite the hordes of chaos throughout the land. Sir Galladon finally met his match, however, on a trip to the elemental plane of water - where he was defeated by an ambush of several crab-like ice creatures known as hydraxes. The leader hydrax took the blade, and kept it for several hundred years...

Who was this Sir Galladon, and where is the realm of Etheria? Speculations to those questions and more details on this blade can be found at the Home of the Ancients.

Image Source

-Havard

Whither the Piazza?

2011-11-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

Looking for the Piazza? Cannot find it at its usual web location? Have no fear. The Piazza has just been moved to a temporary location while some maintainence is being performed. Until its return, you can find it here:

The Piazza - Old D&D Worlds Discussion!

-Havard

Home of the Ancients

2011-11-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

Blackmoor - Home of the Ancients was the first Blackmoor fan website I used to visit. It hosted the legendary Blackmoor fan gazetteer. A fairly thorough analysis of the DA modules supplemented with information drawn from the FFC. I was sad to learn that the website had been taken down, but equally happy when the site's creator, David Ross, said I could put those files up at my own website. So here it is, preserved for the future, the Home of the Ancients.

-Havard

Tell Me About Your Character

2011-11-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

Dave Arneson's legacy lives on as Blackmoor is being played in numerous campaigns over the world even today. I'd love to hear more about those stories from games played by other Blackmoor groups out there, from the 1970s and up to today. Not just those lucky enought to have played with Dave Arneson himself, but anyone having played in Blackmoor. What were your experiences?

In Rafe's campaign I play this guy:

General Harwan of Starmorgan

He wasn't always a General of course. Young Harwan grew up in Newgate. His father died when he was quite young, and the boy was drawn to the legends of the towns own hero ruler, the Great Svenny, as a kind of replacement father figure. His real father was also a fighting man, leaving his son a family heirloom: The Sword Grief, said to have once been the weapon of King Robert's son. This might be the reason why he at a young age joined the Blackmoor Military. Being a disciplined and determined young man, he quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant.

It was while serving as a Sergeant that Harwan first encountered the Company of the Maiden. As Blackmoor's forces attacked the Afridhi occupied Duchy of Ten, Harwan's unit was all but wiped out. Joining forces with the Company of the Maiden, they defeated Toska Rusa and destroyed the Well of Souls, liberating what was left of the Duchy of Ten. In the years that passed, Harwan was promoted General and placed in charge of the New Duchy.

He is now approaching 40 and is of mixed Thonian and Skandaharian stock. The years have placed some heavy burdens on his shoulders, perhaps the reason for his now more confident bearing. Life in the court of the New Duchy has not made him soft however. He has preserved his powerful build and imposing stature. Harwan wears a heavy blue cloak, indicating lordhood, and dons Full Plate Armor when riding into battle.

***

Do you have any tales of heroics in Dave Arneson's setting? I would love to hear about them. Post in this thread, or in the comments section here!

Image Source

-Havard

More Blackmoor Blogs!

2011-11-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

More people are writing about Blackmoor! Tim Bannock is exploring the Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor over at the Dungeon Crawl blog. Most recently, Dork Lord Dungeon Master has set up his own blog called Adventures in Blackmoor. Only a few entires have yet been posted, but Dork Lord's ideas about a Blackmoor campaign with the Pathfinder system did catch my attention. I am looking forward to seeing how that goes. Is this the beginning of a new wave of Blackmoor blogs? :)

Image Source

-Havard

Blackmoor at UCON 2011

2011-11-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

It pleases me to learn that Blackmoor is still being played at conventions. Not only at the Dave Arneson Memorial events, but also regular gaming convetions feature Blackmoor play in 2011. Last weekend, Blackmoor MMRPG episode modules were being run at UCON in Michigan. This is particularly pleasing to hear with the recent announcement that the MMRPG episodes are once again becoming available at the Comeback Inn.

The UCON session seems to have been a success. In spite of little ahead planning or marketing, the group had no trouble finding players, one UCON participant tells me. If you have more information about the UCON games, or other convetions running Blackmoor, I am interested in hearing about it! :)

-Havard

Experimental Play in the Last Fantasy Campaig PbP

2011-11-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

In the ongoing Play by Forum game, my DM Rafe just posted the following:

My dear friends of the "Company of the Maiden",

and all those others who come here to read of your adventures!

For the fourth Episode in our sequence of scenarios and adventures,

we will deviate from the usual format:

Instead of presenting you a number of cutscenes, we will do a little bit of "meta".

As of the time I write this text, the game that has become "The Last Fantasy Campaign"

is about to enter its seventh year of consecutive action.

Now, before we enter the last battle, the "hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down"...

Let's take a moment and look back at those many years of gaming.

One pretty unique aspect of our game is that we have basically followed the same plots since the beginning;

before we enter the final stage of the game, I would like to shed some light onto them,

so my players and eventual lurkers know what has been going so far:

The First Part of the "Last Fantasy Campaign": The Grim Winter Cycle

In an earlier commentary on the series, I defined four basic plotlines:

The Egg Arc, The Thonian Arc, The Westryn Arc, and The Veil Arc; all of them developed by the players' actions,

mainly over the course of "The Grim Winter" and its companion games, which would be "The War of the Thieves",

and "The Road".

For me, as a DM, the Grim Winter was storyboard HELL, mainly because I had to make up most of the stories on the spot;

and while I now arrogantly boast that there are very few people other than Havard and me that know the setting

as thoroughly as we do, this was certainly not the case in 2005, when I started our campaign.

"The Grim Winter, Episode I" was just a random title I chose for its epicness, after a rather unpleasant experience

in my text production class in English, when my professor very strongly suggested that I should expand my vocabulary.

This was really the reason I got into PBP games first and foremost. To become a better teacher, GAAAH.

The game I started was really just a mix of two already published scenarios - one created by the good people at http://www.fraternityofshadows.com,

another by a Polish D20-producer, "The Forge", that later on would become famous as an illustration studio.

At that point, while I had a lot of fun charging the initial members of the party

(of which only the characters Erdath and Sven remain in the game today)

through an inn haunted by a ridiculously-hard-to-kill demon girl (our "Maiden"),

I never entertained the idea to make the game more than a one-shot.

My change of heart was really most caused by Greg, who plays the character Sven Ithamis in our game:

He told me his character's family history to such a detail that I couldn't but get hooked on it;

so emerged the idea of putting Sven and his companions against the other noble of note (to me) that Blackmoor

could muster, Bascom Ungulian.

In my version of the story, the baron of Glendower had been enthralled by the infamous Egg of Coot,

during his (canonical) rescue of his wife from the Orcish realm of Ohmfet;

you can read about this in some of the earlier cutscenes.

It would have been a f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s story, about how "The Company of the Maiden",

bearing now the curse of the epinomous demon-child,

hunted down the mad baron, twarted his murder attempt of King Uther, and finally fought him in the

famous dungeons of Glendower.

Alas, what happened? :) GAME happened; rarely did players in any of my games ever miss a plot so hard as

our group did with the Ungulian arc. :D ...And so, we kind of moved our focus.

Frankly, I am glad: My first attempt at the story was not even half as entertaining as what we later created together.

Also, the real reason for the party essentially failing the Ungulian arc was really nobody's fault:

The main reason for the many inconsistencies that an interested reader will find in our game logs was that the party roster

changed continuously within the first four Episodes of The Grim Winter.

In a party of eight, we had about fifteen people enter and leave within a year and a half,

until the group that we have today started to form. That made it virtually impossible to keep a consistent story:

From the assassin sent out to kill Sven (Mandle), to the magician unknowingly transporting Ran's phylactery (Morghrum),

well, you see: Dozens of story threads that would later prove an effort to weave together again in "The Promised Land"...

In retrospect, I wonder if I could have done this better, but then again,

who would have thought that this turned into the huge thing... :)

What remained about the story about Ungulian was really Ran,

who would turn into the party's major tormentor, and ultimately, the evil mastermind of all bad things.

I took Ran, word by word, from "The First Fantasy Campaign", where he is described as an android.

(If you follow the game, this just should explain SO MUCH.)

How sketchy my idea of him was, though, you can see in "The War of the Thieves":

If that game had gone at a faster pace, it would likely have been him that the party fought at the end of that game.

("The War of the Thieves" was very closely modelled after the mega-adventure "The Lost City of Gaxmoor",

by Troll Lord Games. If youwant to get an idea how the action would have developed, had we sticked to our

initial plan, take a look at that book, if you want.)

The last two episodes, that would detail the war between the Afridhi and the Blackmoorian army,

they were really just a bonus, because I enjoyed the game so much.

That we left the game open ended was really not so much planned;

had the party killed Ran during the Battle of the Longest Day, that would have been about it.

But they didn't.

...And so, a sequel.

...To be continued.

This looks like its going to be an interesting experience. More details here.

-Havard

Blackmoor MMRPG Season 1 Available

2011-11-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

I am working to make the episodes of the Blackmoor MMRPG available again. No, we are not talking about an interractive video game, but the Living Blackmoor campaign. To find out how you can get your hands on these free downloads, click here.

Note that only the first five episodes are currently available. I will keep you posted as more are uploaded. Eventually I hope to have all 4 seasons available, and more!

Image Source

-Havard

The Part-Time Adventurer

2011-11-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a concept I have been thinking about for a while now. Most D&D campaigns are centered around PCs who are full time adventurers. After having explored their first dungeon, they will go on to their next adventure, and from there on future exploration and battles await. Time between adventures are often spent carousing, training, doing research or hanging out at the Adventurers Guild.

The Part-Time Adventurer Campaign Concept is a somewhat different approach. I think I first thought about it when playing Greg Stafford's Pendragon RPG. In this game, the PCs who are usually all knights, will go on a quest or two, usually during the Summer season. The rest of the year is most commonly spent doing other knightly duties, holding tourneys, persuing romances or administering your stronghold.

This made me think of one of my other big inspirations for gaming: Super hero comics. I always liked Spider-Man. Not just because of the big fights with criminals and super villains. Large parts of those comics also dealt with the other parts of Peter Parker's life. Did he get enough money to pay for his rent? Would he ever sort out those complicated romances of his? Would he finally be permanently fired from the Daily Bugle? Those were the things that made us care about the character.

My idea is that a campaign which deals not with PCs who are primarily adventurers, will make us care more about them. Instead of being full time adventurers, they would more be more integrated in the society they live in, and would be called to do heroics only when needed.

The main criticism I have met so far when I have talked about this is that people think we are going to spent a lot of time playing out non-adventuring stuff. That is not my point. Much of that stuff can be fast forwarded through, to get to the adventuring stuff. But having PCs who are real people with real cares and worries might make both the PCs and the DM feel like its worth investing more than if their whole lives are spent decapitating orcs for money.

Thoughts?

-Havard

Adventures YES, setting NO?

2011-11-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

The DIY attitude is something that old schoolers often talk about. Building your own campaign world is often part of what many old school DMs write about. Creating your own world like Gygax, Arneson or even Tolkien himself. Interestingly, the same Old Schoolers will often praise many of the old adventure modules.

My preferences are a little different. I love the published settings. Blackmoor and Mystara in particular, but also many of the other D&D worlds. On the other hand, I have very rarely used modules. Back in my early days of gaming we never used them. We loved drawing up dungeons and populating them with monsters. Since we didnt have much money back then, it seemed like a waste to buy something that we could easily make ourselves. Later I have gotten to appreciate modules more, but I rarely run them as is, but rather use the elements I like and tweak and warp them as to fit my tastes and the needs of the campaign.

Are there two schools of DIY? The Setting way and the dungeon way? If so, which one do you belong to?

Image Source

-Havard

Norwegian King in St. Paul MN

2011-10-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Some day I hope to make a pilgrimage to St. Paul and Lake Geneva to see the places that gave birth to D&D and maybe even knock on the doors of a few of the original Blackmoor players. Although that may not happen this year, another fellow countryman of mine, my own king is just wrapping up his latest trip to the US, which a visit to St. Paul. Not sure if he ever heard of Dave Arneson or D&D, but I think it is something he would have enjoyed. Although he would probably have to get to play Uther ;)

-Havard

Jim Ward back from the hospital

2011-10-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I reported that Jim Ward was recovering. I was sad to learn through Dragonsfoot that he was hospitalized again a few days ago. Fortunately, he is back at work again as of today. I wish him a speedy recovery.

-Havard

Happy Birthday Dave

2011-10-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

64 years ago today, Dave Arneson was born. His legacy lives on.

-Havard

[Inspiration] Nomad: The Warrior (2005)

2011-09-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Just watched the movie Nomad: The Warrior (2005), a historical epic type movie set in 18th Century Kazakhstan. While the acting and screenplay does have room for improvement, the movie had some pretty interesting action scenes and the story was not too bad.

I think the movie can provide some good inspiration for the Peshwah. Although I see them closer to Scythians or perhaps middle eastern horseman cultures, the movie portrays a horseman culture as good as any with unusually shaped swords, strange rituals and brutality that would exist among any nomadic tribe.

I particularly enjoyed the part of the movie where the hero is taken into captivity and forced to go through a series of trials in order to win his freedom. This is something I could be tempted to copy and paste into my Blackmoor campaign, where the PCs are currently travelling through Peshwah lands looking for King Uther's heir.

-Havard

Codex Immortalis, now in English!

2011-09-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Codex Immortalis is the definite collection of Mystara's Immortals. My friend Marco wrote these years ago in Italian, but thanks to Mystara enthusiast and Piazza member, Mortis, this two volume pdf is now available for free download for the first time in English.

Not only are these books packed with information, but they are also beautifully presented. Now I know what I will be reading this weekend! Go here to see how you can download them for free.

-Havard

Greg Stoltze's Dinosaurs...in SPAAACE!

2011-09-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Greg Stoltze's latest project has caught my interest. Mr Stoltze has decided to make a game that includes everything he thinks is cool. What could be more in the spirit of Blackmoor than that? In the video he says that it is a game that combines time travel, rocket ships, mad scientists, Aztecs, alients and much more.

Find out more about the game here. This was just too cool an idea not to share. :)

-Havard

The Empire of Owls

2011-09-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Empire of Owls is a new game opening up at the Comeback Inn. This game promises to explore the southern parts of the world of Blackmoor's Great Kingdom.

"The Empire of the Owls" is set in the utmost southern province of Blackmoor's great Kingdom, in the lands of Ravilla, the ancient home of the Gray Elves, somewhat east the Wilderlands, and south of Blackmoor. This is not a canonical setting, so you won't find it on any map. "

Not only will the game take steps into yet unmapped territory, but it will also explore a new era in the world of Blackmoor, being set 90 years after the D20 line products.

"The game is set in the year 1120 of the Northern Calendar, as per the Blackmoor counting of years, or in the year 4522, as per Balozkinar's Corrected Commoner's Calendar from the Wilderlands. The wars in Blackmoor are long over, and the Empire of Thonia is history."

Another interesting feature is that it will involve dominion style play, perhaps resembling the companion rules from BECMI or the style of play seen in the Birthright setting. It seems like this game will be chat based rather than a regular PbP. My buddy Rafael is the DM, and at least one original Blackmoor player is among the participants!

More information on the game, and how YOU can join here.

Image Source.

-Havard

Complete Classic

2011-09-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks I have finally gotten my hands on Holmes Basic, Cook/Marsh Basic and Moldvay/Cook Expert. Since the 1980s I have owned the complete BECMI D&D (along with the RC in the 90s), but it has been nice to add the other versions of Classic D&D to my collection. Frank Mentzer's BECMI remains my favorite version of D&D, but it is interesting to see the little variations in the previous versions. In general I prefer looking at all of these as pretty much the same game. Modules, supplements and other elements are easily used between all of them so having the whole collection really makes me feel proud to say that I am a fan of classic D&D.

-Havard

Obey the Rules!

2011-09-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

This summer I had an interesting discussion with a poster on one of the more grognardy D&D forums out there. The poster seemed shocked that I suggest he change certain rules in his AD&D 1st edition game. I argued that he should change that particular rule because I thought the rule in question was stupid. Interestingly, he did not do what I thought he was going to do, which would have been to argue that the rule was not stupd. In fact he seemed to admit that it was a rather silly rule. However, he protested wildly against changing it. Why? Because it was written in the rules. And he assumed that since the rules then must have come from Gary or possibly one of Gary's friends or even Dave Arneson, it would be wrong to change the rule.

The idea that he could be trolling did occur to me, but he did seem genuine about it, and the fact that there are entire forums dedicated to By The Book play means that there are probably more people in the Old School community sharing that opinion.

But what could be less Old School than By The Book play? Dave and Gary were both constantly changing the rules when they were DMing their early games. Many times suggestions about which rules needed to change would come from players. Like the time when the players suggested to Dave that their characters could maybe survive more than one hit, thus resulting in the creation of hit points. Other times, the DMs would figure out these things on their own.

Not that constantly changing the rules is a good idea. I often argue for sticking to the rules as written, especially before you know the game well enough. Some of the GMs I play with using non-D&D systems often seem eager to fiddle with the rules after a few sessions. I have found that this is often a bad idea since changing a tiny thing can have greater consequences than you know if you dont really understand the ideas behind the game. But after having played D&D for decades, I feel like I can do whatever I want with it.

Are you a BTB man?

-Havard

Arneson Gameday Poster

2011-09-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

As mentioned the 3rd Arneson Gameday hosted in New York City is being arranged on October 1st this year. The Mule Abides recently posted this fantastic looking poster by Scott LeMien for the event. I love castle Blackmoor in the background and the interesting looking hands/weapons thrust into the air in homage to Dave Arneson.

Here are some of the games announced for this year's event:

Luke Crane will be running games of Arneson’s adventure DNA/DOA using a hack of Burning Wheel Gold
Darren Watts will be running games of Lucha Libre for the HERO System
Michael Curtis will be running games of Stonehell Dungeon
Joseph Bloch will be running games of Adventures Dark & Deep, and will have a new version of the Bestiary
Paul Hughes will be running games of 4E Dungeons & Dragons using his poster of the OD&D random monster charts
Tavis Allison will be running games of Adventurer Conqueror King

More details at the Comeback Inn. Are you doing anything for Arneson Game Day?

-Havard

The Divinity of Dragons

2011-09-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

While D&D Dragons often are just big monsters to be killed in the last room of the dungeon, many mythologies connect dragons with the Gods. But Divine Dragons have always been a part of the game as well. OD&D had Tiamat and Bamut as Divine Dragons and BECMI D&D had the Dragon Rulers. Dragonlance took the concept even further with having both Draconic Gods, but also mortal dragons as messengers of the Gods.

In my Blackmoor campaign I decided I wanted to explore this idea of humans viewing dragons as part of the divine. In this case, I decided to use the Peshwah Horsemen. Since I take some inspiration for the Peshwah from the Fremen in Frank Herbert's Dune series, I thought of the idea of using Dragons as a parallell to the Sand Worms of that series. The Fremen view the Sand Worms or Shai Hulud, as the manifestations of God; their actions being those of reverence, no matter how destructive. My idea was to make the Peshwah feel the same way about Dragons. Additionally I decided that the Peshwah would not distinquish between Good and Evil dragons. All dragons to them are sacred.

In the last session, my players took the concept even further than I had anticipated. One of the player characters had his arm destroyed by dragonfire, only to have it replaced by a clockwork arm. Upon learning this, another player, playing a Peshwah Monk of the Fallen Star (See Dave Arneson's Blackmoor D20 for details), declared that the fact that the character had his arm destroyed by a dragon was a mark of the divine. He believed that the character was Dragontouched, an individual meant for a greater purpose. Introducing the Dragontouched to the Peshwah clan of the Adiel, this character was met with reverence. This could be the thing that could help the PCs convince the Peshwah to join with Blackmoor in the ongoing War against the Egg of Coot. And the war is not looking good for Blackmoor right now.

Image Source

-Havard

Playing Blackmoor in the real Vestfold

2011-09-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Slottsfjell, in Vesfold, Norway

Like many Minnesotans, Dave Arneson and several of his players were of Scandinavian ancestry. As I have mentioned previously, the origin of the name of Blackmoor's city of Vestfold, is probably the Vesfold region of Norway, rather than the Tolkien version. Tolkien most likely got the name for his Vestfold from the same source. It is also interesting that the recent Thor and Captain American movies both have their opening scenes in this area, a fact well appreciated by the locals.

In any case, it was quite cool to be able to go to the real Vestfold this weekend and DM a game of Blackmoor. A member of my original gaming group lives in the region and invited me and other friends from the good old days for a weekend of gaming. We each ran one game, and I chose (surprisingly?) to run Blackmoor.

The game involved exploring the town of Newgate, getting to know a Peshwah Monk, and the quest to find King Uther's lost son. The game was a great success. One of the best games I have run in a while. My players did a great job getting into roleplaying their characters and had alot of fun just talking to NPCs, getting into an epic bar brawl and enduring a petty quarrel with an officer of the city guards. All in all a fun weekend!

-Havard

3rd Annual NYC Arneson Memorial Gameday: October 1

2011-08-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

A little over a month to go to the 3rd Annual NYC Arneson Memorial Gameday! Previously this New York City based event was held in March, but has now been moved to October 1st which is Dave Arneson's birthday. Although I have yet to get it confirmed, it is believed that it will be held at the Brooklyn Strategist. This year's events include:

Michael Curtis will be running games of Stonehell Dungeon
Joseph Bloch will be running games of Adventures Dark & Deep, and will have a new version of the Bestiary
Luke Crane will be running games of DNA/DOA using a hack of Burning Wheel Gold
Darren Watts will be running games of Lucha Libre for the HERO System
Tavis Allison and others will be running games of the soon to be published Adventurer Conqueror King
Paul Hughes will be running 4E using his poster of the OD&D random monster charts
Daniel Boggs can't make it, but will be writing a piece for the program book and sending a single-volume collection of Dragons at Dawn & its first sequel
Panel discussion about Arneson's legacy and how it's shaped modern culture; panelists will include journalists Ethan Gilsdorf (Wired, Salon) and David Ewalt (Forbes) .

More information can be found here. If you are going, make sure to send me the reports, pictures, videos or sound recordings. I want them :)

Image Source

-Havard

What I did in Blackmoor this summer

2011-08-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

Nah, I did not participate in any pagan summer solistice rituals, but I have taken the last month off from postig here, feeling that I deserved a break to recharge the batteries and spend some time on real life things. I did to some pretty exciting things in gaming this summer however, that I will be sharing with you in the coming posts. Some highlights include:

Going to Scandinavia's largest gaming convention, RopeCon in Finland.
Meeting some of my heroes in game design including Frank Mentzer, Erik Mona, James Raggi and others.
Meeting several friends from the Piazza, the Comeback Inn and Dragonsfoot in real life for the first time. And finding out that they are very cool people in real life as well as online!
Playing an amazing Blackmoor adventure face to face with Rafael and Saunattonttu.
Picking up some very cool RPG items, including Lamentations of the Flame Princess (at last!), Dark Chataeu and many others.
Finally getting my hands on Adventures in Fantasy and some other rare Dave Arneson items.
And much more...

I will leave you with just that teaser for now, but expect more detailed reports to be coming up on many of these items.

-Havard

The Gygax Memorial Fund

2011-07-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

Since today is Gary's birthday, I think it is appropriate to take a look at the Gygax Memorial Fund and their goal to build a monument in his honor.

From what I have learned, the Fund will have an exibit at Gen Con on this August 4th-7th. At the Old School Renaissance Group booth (#1541), Gail Gygax will be talking about conversations she had with her husband before his passing about how he wanted to be remembered, the resulting vision for the statue, and the goals of the Memorial Fund.

At the booth, they will be taking contributions and offering donor rewards including T-shirts with the Gygax Memorial logo - Argent, a Bar Azure, Three Lozenges Gules - and a book called "Cheers, Gary" which selects the best of his correspondence with fans at the EN World Q&A threads. Editor Paul Hughes will also be at the booth with Gail signing copies of "Cheers, Gary" and discussing plans for another volume based on the Dragonsfoot Q&A. Although all of this is available online, it would sure be nice to have Gary's wisdom collected in print.

-Havard

Piazza URL returns

2011-07-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick message to let you know that the Piazza is back at its original web adress. As I reported a few weeks back, it was only accessible through a temporary URL for a limited period, while the site was being moved to a new host. The reason for the move was the security problems believed connected to the previous web provider. Good to have the old adress back. :)

-Havard

A different take on alignments

2011-07-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

An interesting discussion over at the Piazza's Dark Dungeon forum, made me think about alignments again. I am wondering if the original OD&D system of only the Law - Chaos axis might not be more suitable for what I am about to present than the more complex double axis system introduced in AD&D. I believe the Law/Chaos duality came from Michael Moorcock's fiction, and before that from Babylonian mythology. This could lead to endless philosophical discussions. However, playing Red Dead Redemption on my XBox 360 the other day, I was wondering if the Old West analogies might not work just as well. The question would then become whether you operate within the law (Lawful) or outside the law (Chaotic).

This is quite different from the early Arnesonian concept of Good Guys vs. Bad Guys. We know that in Western movies, the good guy can sometimes be the Sherrif, but just as often he will be the Outlaw working to bring down corrupt officials. So lets be clear that Chaotic does not mean evil, even if there in many scenarios will be more villainous elements working outside the law.

Reputation
This take on alignments is linked to the idea of reputation. Many different systems of reputation have been invented for D&D, but to keep it simple, lets say that reputation equals your character's level. 9th level represents the point where you have truly carved out a name for yourself that is, reached Name Level. Reputation is based on level, but is also linked to alignment. At first level, nobody cares who you are or what kind of person you are, but as you gain levels, people will have heard of you and your exploits. This is different from many D&D games where alignment is secret. Using this model, a high level character is pretty much a celebrity. People you meet will know who you are and what you have done, good or bad. More importantly, their reactions will depend on your reputation. A reputation as a Chaotic will gain you respect among criminals, orcs and evil wizards, but most cityfolk will react negatively towards you. Borrowing ideas from The Dark Dungeons discussion, a +4 bonus to charisma (or a -4 penalty) might be appropriate. Prices for weapons, equipment and lodging in towns will normally be higher for a chaotic. OTOH, buying shady goods from smugglers will probably not be an option for a Lawful character. (Note: I would also charge higher prices to characters using Cha as a dump stat regardless of reputation).

Chaotic Realms
While most civilized places will favor lawfuls, there will be regions, city districts, or even kingdoms where the situation is reversed. In a Pirate City, a known lawman will be viewed with suspicion if not outright attacked. A Champion of Chaos may find that the Black Gates of Mordor will open for him.

In general, it is more tempting to play an unscrupulous character. Because of this, I do suggest making it harder for these guys and rewarding those who play lawful characters and act according to their alignment.

-Havard

Dragons at Dawn Supplement I is out!

2011-07-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

DHBogg's just announced the release of the first supplement for his Dave Arneson inspired game Dragons at Dawn. Named Supplement I: Twighlight, the description at Lulu reads:

Supplement 1 is a broad ranging expansion of the Dragons at Dawn retro-tribute fantasy role playing game honoring the first years of adventure role playing as envisioned by gaming pioneer Dave Arneson. The contents include character class variations, alternate combat tables, new spells and rules for governing magic, expanded information on skills, morale, wilderness adventuring and a whole lot more!

Click here to order a hard copy or buy the pdf. You can talk about supplement I with other fans as well as the author at the Dragons at Dawn section of the OD&D74 forum, or at the new Arnesonian Rules Section of the Comeback Inn.

-Havard

Individualizing dwarves

2011-07-15T05:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, they have already been all over the blogosphere and forums, but I wanted to have the dwarves on my blog as well. Is that too selfish? While some have expressed worries about the length of beards or that these dwarves somehow don't look right, I actually like that Jackson is individualizing the dwarves. It may even be good for the hobby that these films are challenging our often stereotyped views of demihumans. How many battle axe wielding Gimli copies have not appeared in your D&D games? How many Elven archers?

Kili and Fili

Oin and Gloin

Nori, Ori and Dori

Bofur, Bombur and Bifur

One of the things done to differentiate the dwarves seems to have been the emphasis on the difference between noble born dwarves and those bred in the west:

"While most of the Company of Thorin Oakensheild is related to the royal and noble line of Durin, Bofur, his brother Bombur and their cousin Bifur most definitely are … not. Born and bred in the West, descendants of coal miners and iron workers, they have joined the Quest for the Lonely Mountain partly to seek their fortune and partly because they were told the beer was free."

Back to Blackmoor.

-Havard

Arnesonian Rules Discussion

2011-07-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

The other day I mentioned Adventurer Conqueror King System, and I have previously talked about the excellent Dragons at Dawn RPG. These are two of several games looking back to the way Dave Arneson ran his games. Because of this, we have added a new section to the Comeback Inn for discussing the RPG rulesets Arneson wrote or contributed to as well as systems attempting to follow this tradition.

Check out the discussions, sign in and participate here.

IMG Source

-Havard

Where is the Piazza?

2011-07-13T04:20:00.000-07:00

Some of the readers of this blog have been having trouble finding the Piazza (D&D Worlds Forum) recently. The Piazza has moved to new servers, and while it will eventually get its old web adress back, it is currently found on a temporary URL:

http://79.170.44.80/frasi.co.uk/thepiazza/bb/

Img source

-Havard

Fred Funk's World

2011-07-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hard core Blackmoor fans and followers of my blog will know that Fred Funk played the Orc King in Dave Areson's original game. As I have previously reported, Fred sadly passed away in January. Over the last few days, many of Fred's friends have joined the Comeback Inn sharing stories of Fred and also of the game he DMed.

Interestingly, Fred ran his own D&D game, set in a world of his own creation, which he even had a Player's Guide created for. The setting is uniquely imaginative and clearly shows Fred's roots in the Minnesota Gamers group. You can read more about Fred and his world here.

-Havard

Adventurer Conqueror King

2011-07-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

After spending last week on a Mediterranean beach, I am now back to making updates here again! So what have I missed? Well, I recently found out about this project called Adventurer Conqueror King that does look interesting. On the one hand it may seem like yet another OD&D retroclone, but I do like the focus on supporting play across the whole range of levels in the campaign, including what they call "Arnesonian barony building". The scope seems to be wider than many D&D variants out there, perhaps reminiscent of the BECMI approach. Having Blackmoor enthusiast Tavis Alison involved also doesnt hurt from the point of view of this Blackmoor Blog.

Read more about the system and how you can help make it come to life here.

-Havard

Paizo is 9 years

2011-07-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

Getting into an anniversary groove here. Paizo is 9 years today. I have never gotten into playing Pathfinder, but I have been buying some of their books, just because they look so damn good.
Happy birthday Paizo!

-Havard

Vaults of Pandius 15 Year Anniversary

2011-06-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

In June 1996, Shawn Stanley set up a website he called the Vaults of Pandius. Ever since this has been a focal point for the Mystara Fan Community. That is 15 years ago, this month. I joined the Mystara Mailinglist later that same year. The mailinglist hadn't been around very long at that time, but already at this point there was a vibrant community talking about this setting which had been created as the default world for the Classic D&D game. From the very beginning I was overwhelmed by the friendliness and creativity that characterized this community.

Many of the results of this creativity can be seen at the Vaults of Pandius, including some of my own humble writings. The Mystara Mailinglist still exists, but the center of the community's activities are now centered arount the Mystara forum at the Piazza. Interestingly many of the people I first met on the mainlinglist back in the 90s are still there, along with many others who joined over the years. This community remains a stimulation for my creativity.

Happy Anniversary Pandius!

-Havard

Earl of Walworth

2011-06-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

In the third year of his reign King Robert I of Thonia established the Northern Marshes as an outpost of his realm. To secure those lands, he ordered the construction of fortifactions there, which would later become the foundations of Blackmoor Castle. One of King Robert's staunchest supporters and an eager advocate for expanding the kingdom was the Earl of Walworth. For his efforts for the realm, Walworth was awarded with the Order of the Morningstar, one of the highest orders of the Empire. However, relations between the Walworths and the Royal Family were not always amicable. At one point Walworth even attempted to assume the throne himself! However, once Robert I had reclaimed the throne with the support from the lord of Blackmoor, Walworth explained that his actions were based on the rumour that the king had perished. Because of this, Walworth was able to avoid disgrace and his line remains strong among Thonian nobility even today.

Behind the Curtains:
Earl of Walworth was Gary Gygax' title in the Castle & Crusade Society. The story about his attempt to assume the throne is based on the fact that #10 of the Domesday Book lists Gygax as King rather than Kuntz. Other details of Walworth's story are also derived from notes from the C&C Society. While Walworth is never mentioned in any Blackmoor material, we know that Dave Arneson did incorporate much of the structure from the C&C Society as background for his campaign.

Image Source

-Havard

Jesters of Blackmoor

2011-06-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

With Dragon magazine's 35th Anniversary (and issue 400 being published) this month, Roger Moore apparently revised his old article about the Jester Class from issue #60 of the magazine and is now presenting it for the current edition, available to DDI subscribers. While I am not a DDI subscriber myself, I am a fan of the old Dragon magazine.

In Dragon #65 Gary Gygax wrote the following in the Jester:

JESTER -- Rob Kuntz, in his currently unpublished module, The Tower of Zaeen, has included a jester. A recent DRAGON Magazine (issue #60) also included the Jester as an NPC class. Because I have also considered the jester as an actual class for the game, I have not as yet read either description. Jesters, as I envision them, can be of human, gnome, or halfling race. (Elves could never permit themselves to be so debased; dwarves are far too serious and just plain humourless.) Alignment is as desired by the player. A jester would have a combination of verbal, magical, and acrobatic skills which allow the class to be viable even though there is no great power. Verbal skills would enable the character to influence many creatures toward kindliness, humor, forgetfulness, thoughtful consideration, irritation, anger, or even rage. Magical skills would have to do with jokes and tricks -- sort of a directed wand of wonder with some magic-user spells and illusionist magic tossed in. Acrobatic skills would be mainly tumbling and juggling, with some magic tossed in there as well. Level titles are: Wag, Punster, Masquer, Harlequin, Clown, Juggler, Buffoon, Fool, Joker, Jester. Powerful at its upper levels, the class will be less than popular with fellow adventurers, I suspect, so that jesters will frequently have enemies and travel alone....

I was a little surprised to see the Jester appear as a Prestige Class in the Players Guide to Blackmoor (3.5E), but it may have been a nod to the original Roger Moore article. Entertainers have always existed in Blackmoor of course, ever since the heroes allowed a circus to perform in the courtyard of Castle Blackmoor. More ideas on the Jesters of Blackmoor can be found here.

Image Source

-Havard

More word from Eldritch Enterprises

2011-06-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

I was meaning to comment on this sooner, but I have been a bit busy. Not to busy to be pleased however of word from Eldritch Enterprises, the company formed by Frank Mentzer and friends. Apparently they are planning quite a wide range of products:

Eldritch Ent. plans to publish for both the mass and game hobby markets. Current projects include a childrens' book series, a work on baking techniques, recipes, and anecdotes (penned by Frank's wife Debbie, based on their time at The Baker's House), and a series of religious studies by Frank's late father (Rev. Frank Mentzer II, a Methodist minister). The hobby game line includes various works for the "Old School Renaissance" movement as well as Mr. Ward's seminal Science Fantasy game "Metamorphosis Alpha."

There will also be possibilties to invest in the company as announced here. My main interest is in the gaming side of the product line of course, but I could certainly see the sense in aiming for a broader market. It will be great seeing Metamorphosis Alpha again and I am hoping Aquaria will follow. Rumour is that Frank will be in Europe this summer, and I hope to catch up with him during that time so that I can squeeze him for more information on these projects...

Picture source

-Havard

Did nothing good come out of the D&D movies?

2011-06-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

We all know the story. In 2000, Dungeons & Dragons the movie was released, directed by Courtney "Corey" Solomon. The movie suffered from a very poor reception, perhaps especially among D&D fans. Dave Arneson was also to some extent involved with this project. Not that I suggest that the movie's failure had anything to do with him, ofcourse. His role was far too minor to have much impact either way.

I have previously mentioned how Arneson was supposed to have a cameo role in the film. His main role seems to have been a kind of technical advisor as well as being supposed to write a module based on the film:

"[We]evaluated the scenes in D&D-specific terms. After all, we are doing the module! Many D&D elements are not obvious in the movie, but they ARE there. Short of having a technical readout for each rule along the side of the screen, it was seldom possible to stop and explain what is going on, rulewise. After all, this is a movie, not a documentary." (-On the Set of the D&D Movie, by Dave Arneson)

In retrospect, it seems like this was a poor use of having a man like Arneson on the set. Perhaps instead of consulting him on rules, the director could have asked for creative input? Based on his descriptions from the set Arneson seems to really have enjoyed himself though, spending time with the actors and being given a chance to talk about D&D to both cast and crew.

As mentioned, Arneson was originally asked to make a module based on the movie. While this project was cancelled by WotC before the movie was released, private correspondance between Arneson and fan Robert Blezard suggests that Arneson loved the opportunity to be able to work with D&D again. It is not unlikely that this was one of the things that made him want to bring back Blackmoor again, which was released only a few years later (2004). So perhaps something good came out of the D&D movie afterall? Besides Thora Birch of course! :)

-Havard

Old School vs. Fun

2011-06-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about the OSR is how it has created a sense of newfound appreciation of older edition books and writers. I am drawn to the works of the early masters of the hobby because of the creativity found within them and the value of taking a second look at these works, discovering great ideas that for various reasons seems to have been lost along the way.

What I don't appreciate are people who worry too much about what is old school and what is not. Especially the latter part. Trying to define how Old School ended in 1981, or 1989 or in 2000, or with person X being kicked out of TSR and excluding everything after that point seems like a pointless exercise. I am also saddened by people telling others that you're not old school enough or you cannot use book X because that's not an old school book.

Interestingly, the most creative individuals from the OSR don't really seem to spend much time with this sort of exclusivist attitude though. They are instead simply driven by their enthusiasm. This positive attitude is what appeals to me about the OSR; not the people who will spend time telling you that you are playing it wrong.

To me old school is more about attitude and spirit, than about anything else. If my choice is between someone else's definition of what is old school and what I think is fun, I will go with fun. And lets face it, this was what the old school masters were about too, wasnt it? If there is one thing I have learned about the Old School masters is that they were willing to include just about anything they could get their hands on into their games. As long as it seeemed like a good idea at the time. So if you want to include Monte Cook's Ptolus, or the latest sourcebook for 4E in your Old School game, who am I to tell you that you arent good enough for the movement? Ultimately, there is no choosing between Old School and fun. If youre not having fun, it sure isn't Old School.

-Havard

Get Blackmoor to your Inbox!

2011-06-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

It is now possible to follow this blog by email. I have added the "Follow by Email" gadget which you can find on the right.

Also, in the news, we have been making some changes to the Comeback Inn. Most are behind the scenes things so they may not be noticed by the casual visitor, but we are doing what we can to keep our favorite Blackmoor forum running as smoothly as possible.

-Havard

Mermaids: Not what they used to be!

2011-05-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Just watched Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides the other day. One of my favorite things in the film were the Mermaids. Not just for the obvious eye candy, but the movie really turned them into creatures to be feared and respected.

It made me think about the underwater races of Blackmoor. From Supplement II to the Voyage of Captain Castagere's Blossom in Module DA4, Underwater or Sea Based Adventures have always been a part of the Blackmoor Setting. Blackmoor is home to many Sea Monsters. Perhaps Mermaids should claim their rightful place among them?

-Havard

[Art] Mystaran Immortals Illustrated Part II

2011-05-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have returned to my pet project of finding images of all the Immortals of Mystara and coloring them in Photoshop. Today I present three humanoid Immortals:

Jammudaru, aka Vaprak the Destroyer, Patron of Ogres, Trolls and Giants:

The original image appeared in Deities & Demigods for AD&D1E

Karaash, patron of Orcs and Warfare:

The original image appeared in an old issue of Dragon Magazine.

Bartziluth, Patron of Bugbears:

The original image appeared in Deities & Demigods for AD&D1E

-Havard

The Piazza is 3 Years!

2011-05-22T04:08:00.000-07:00

What is it about D&D Forums being established in May? It is really a pleasure to see how the Piazza has developed over these last few years. In 2008 there were people who thought noone was really interested in talking about those D&D Worlds that WotC no longer "supported". Man were they wrong! A few years ago, I described the Piazza as a unique phenonemon where it comes to RPG Web Forums.

The last few months have seen some technical challenges for the Forum, but with a dedicated Admin, Ashtagon, and a team of dedicated moderators, willing to spend time and money on keeping this forum up and running, free for its members, there is no challenge that cannot be overcome.

Now at 84578 posts and 814 members, including notables such as Adam Black, Cam Banks Monte Cook, Colin McComb, Tim Beach, Mike Brealt, Colin McComb, Allen Varney, Trampas Whiteman, Andrew Steven Harris, Tim Kask, Frank Mentzer, James Mishler, Geoff Gander, Robert S Conley, Aaron Infante-Levy, Adam Miller and several others it is clear that the Piazza is still going strong!

-Havard

Dragonsfoot is 9 Years!

2011-05-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Dragonsfoot Forum is 9 years old. Founded in 2002, Dragonsfoot is probably the best known forum for discussion of TSR era D&D rules. During the time when Edition Wars were raging all across the the Internet, Dragonsfoot became the shelter for people who did not want to move into WotC's (then) brand new version of the game. While sometimes being accused of being a haven of paranoid grognards, it is an amazing source of information about the early days of gaming and the older rulesets. You might have to develop tough skin to participate in the most heated discussions there, but all in all I am glad that a place like that exists! :)

For one this is where I met some of the key people involved with the Comeback Inn!

-Havard

[Villains] Mistress Ibis Shatn

2011-05-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

One of the most powerful wizards in the Thonian Rand, the part of Thonia bordering to Blackmoor, is Mistress Ibis Shatn. Ibis is the Warren (Baron) of New Bril, and one of the vassals of Duke Markovic. A force of 200 Imperial Constables defent her stronghold. These forces supported the Iron Duke in his military repression of the Peshwah. She is noted for her cruelty as well as her hunger for magical power. Unfortunately, one of her less than competent hirelings accidentally caused one of her most powerful magical items to magically disappear. She is now completely dedicated to finding the item again as it contains a part of her life essence. Should she be able to reclaim it, she will once again become a powerful asset for Duke Markovic in his quest to reclaim Blackmoor in the name of the Thonian Empire.

Read more about this fascinating character and her magical items here.

Image Source

-Havard

You haven't heard of the Well of Souls?

2011-05-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Although the one who made this image probably didnt have Blackmoor's Well of Souls in mind, I smiled when I came across it.

Image Source: http://cheezburger.com/View/4593260544

-Havard

The Piazza is back! (again)

2011-05-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick message to let everyone know that the Piazza is back up again. I know everyone is growing tired of this back and forth stuff on the forum, but hopefully a more permanent sollution to the problem can be found. If Ashtagon is right, it looks like the only way to handle this is by switching to another Internet provider. At least I am now getting some relief after a weekend of abstinence....

Image source

-Havard

More trouble at the Piazza

2011-05-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

This picture sums up my feelings about not being able to post on my favorite D&D forum, the Piazza, this Weekend. I talked to the Piazza admin yesterday and she asked me to convey the following message:

After the previous hacking attempt, all files on the host were examined and cleaned of injected malware scripting, all passwords changed (including forum admin user, ftp, and server interface accounts), and these pass...words were used only from a machine that had been examined for trojans, key loggers, and other malware. This fixed the problem... for about two weeks. When a fresh attack injected malware scripting, I immediately locked the forum. I have taken backup copies of the database and hosted files. I am awaiting a response from the host regarding my request for a complete copy of the server logs, which they appear unwilling or unable to provide. At this stage, it is looking very likely that The Piazza will be moving to a new host. Based on the information I have so far, the most likely problem is another website hosted on the same virtual server (and therefore invisible to me, but visible to the host) which is able to inject malware code on to other sites on the same virtual host.

Hopefully this situation will be resolved as soon as possible. I know that Ashtagon is working hard at finding a sollution, so please try to keep your frustration under control just as I am. The Piazza will return, of that there is no doubt!

-Havard

Dungeon Clean-Up Crew

2011-05-08T02:39:00.000-07:00

As Dave Arneson's group were exploring their early dungeons, the fascination of the players for these underground activities lead to new and interesting ideas being formed. I have previously discussed David Megarry's ideas for turning dungeon exploration into a commercially viable board game. In the Blackmoor games, dungeons were commonly explored more than once. This lead another player, Ross Maker, to ask about what happened to all the corpses, rusty weapons and armor left behind after a party of adventurers had waded through a dungeon. Wouldn't that become messy after a while?

So, the Dungeon Clean-Up Crew was invented. These consisted of the Black Pudding, Oche Jelly, Grey Ooze, Yellow Mold, Green Slime and others. As this older article at Sham's Grog & Blog mentions, they were even referred to as the Clean-Up Crew in the rulebooks when the monsters first appeared in 1974.

Dave Arneson was a great fan of B-Horror films, and brought many such ideas into the game. According to Gary Gygax, the Green Slime was based on the 1968 movie with the same name. As many of you will know the Black Pudding was inspired 1958 movie The Blob. Greg Svenson has previously described the time when Dave Arneson introduced this horror into the game:

"At this point Dave took us into the laundry area of the basement, telling us he wanted to see what we would do. He had us line up in our marching order. Then he turned off the lights saying a sudden wind had blown out our torches. Then we heard some screaming. We generally scattered as best we could. He turned on the lights looked at what we had done and then went back the other room, telling us that a black blob had killed one of the NPCs who ran into it. We soon found that our weapons dissolved when we struck it. Then we got some torches relit and found that we could fight it with fire. Eventually we killed it losing a couple more men in the process."

In addition to this being an example of truly experimental roleplaying technique by Dave Arneson, the seed to the idea may have been the implementation of Maker's idea that something was eating all the remains left behind in dungeons. Arneson's players were allowed alot of input into the game. A lesson worthy for generations of gamers to come.

Image Sources:
Gelatinous Cube
The Blob

-Havard

Beholders of Blackmoor

2011-05-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Originally invented by Terry Kuntz, the Beholders first appeared in Supplement I: Greyhawk. I was never really a big fan of the Beholders to be honest, with their strange appearance and seemingly random powers. I tend to like monsters that fit into a certain theme, or are associate with some kind of mythology. I liked the idea of grouping many of the more bizarre creatures together as Aberrations, creatures from a distant plane of weirdness. I linked this to the Dimension of Nightmare from Frank Mentzer's BECMI cosmology.

My main reason for bringing up Beholders now is that they just appeared in Rafael's Blackmoor PbP Game, the Last Fantasy Campaign. Here they are described as Sentinels of the Egg of Coot. That is just brilliant! Not only does the round shape of the Beholders fit well with the Egg, whatever it is, but the Nightmare/Far Realm connection, also fits well with my Cthulhuesque interpretation of the Egg itself.

Illustration by Rob Torno

-Havard

Blackmoor News!

2011-05-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

Things are happening!

I know things have been a bit more quiet lately, but we are working on Blackmoor related things all the time! Lately we have been working on expanding the Comeback Inn a little. We have now opened two new sections on the Forum:

One new section, Beyond the Veil, focuses on Blackmoor's connections to various other published settings such as Greyhawk, Mystara and the Wilderlands. The other new section is called the Coot's Watch and focuses on the Blackmoor MMRPG, the "Living Blackmoor" campaign run by Zeitgeist Games.

And this is just the beginning! Those who think Blackmoor is a dead setting are wrong. I can't reveal everything today, but I will have some exciting news for you all in the weeks to come :)

-Havard

The King of Orcs Has Passed Away

2011-04-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

I just learned from Greg Svenson that Frederick "Fred" Paul Funk III passed away January 21, 2011. Fred Funk was part of Dave Arneson's original Blackmoor group. Not to be confused with the professional golfer, Funk played the Orc King, controlling the 10th level of the Blackmoor Dungeon. He is the first known player to have played an Orc in an RPG, but later the Half-Orc would become a popular race in D&D.

A friend of Greg Svenson since junior high school, it was Svenson who introduced Funk to Arneson's group. Later Fred Funk would also run his own Blackmoor games. Fred Funk worked as a police officer and later went into security management in Minnesota.

May he Rest in Peace.

-Havard

The Oerth Journal

2011-04-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

I was pleasantly surprised when it was recently announced that the Oerth Journal is being revived. The Oerth Journal is a Greyhawk periodicle, but should also be of interest to all Blackmoor fans. In particular, #5 which details the Greyhawk version of the Archbarony of Blackmoor, and #6 detailing Rob Kuntz recollections of Robilar and Mordenkeinen's adventure in the City of the Gods, where Dave Arneson also contributed with commentaries. In addition to these articles, the series include many gems and pieces, many of which were authored by notables from the industry's past and present.

The Greyhawk Grognard blog has a nice index of the Oerth Journals issue #1 to 25 which can be a useful starting point. A new website has been set up for the Oerth Jorunal here. You can also go directly to their downloads page.

Currently the new leadership of the Journal are looking for submissions. Find out more about this here.

-Havard

The Piazza is back!

2011-04-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

As I reported on Tuesday, the Piazza (D&D Worlds Discussion) Forum, was temporarily shut down earlier this week due to Malware problems. However, the problems have now been taken care of and the Piazza is back up for discussion!

Go here, to visit the Piazza now!

-Havard

Blackmarsh is out!

2011-04-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

If you haven't done so already, check out Rob Conley's Blackmarsh Setting! I mentioned this project a few weeks ago, and now you can get it too. You can read a review of it over at Zombiecowboy's Gameblog. Conley also has an interesting article about how Blackmarsh was published on his Bat in the Attic Blog. An interesting read if you are thinking about getting your own old school material published. Rob has done some great things in the past, like the excellent Points of Light setting, so give Blackmarsh a chance!

-Havard

Crisis on the Piazza!

2011-04-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick notice. The forum known as the Piazza has been infected by Malware. To avoid getting your own computers infected, it is advisable to stay away from the site. I am working with the admin of the Piazza and the rest of the moderators to resolve the situation.

I will post more information on this topic here when I have more to report. Be assured, the people involved are determined not to let the Piazza die. The situation is pretty dire, but we will have a sollution for you. The Piazza is one of the best D&D forums out there and it must go on!

More updates on the Piazza Group on Facebook.

-Havard

Blackmoor Studios at Full Sail University

2011-04-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

As I reported in October, Full Sail University dedicated their new game studio to Dave Arneson and Blackmoor. Dave Arneson's daughter Malia Weinhagen and former TSR vice president “Uncle” Duke Seifried were among the guests at the dedication ceremony. Here is a video from the event:

You can read more about the event here.

-Havard

Dave Arneson The Player

2011-04-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

While Dave Arneson may have been the first Dungeon Master, he also enjoyed being on the other side of the DM's screen. As with most roleplayers, he started out as a player.

A formative moment in the life of young Dave Arneson was when his parents got him Avalon Hill's Gettysburg War Game, in the early 1960s. A few years later (1965?), he joined the Midwest Military Simulation Association which used to meet at Greg Scott's house. When the group became too big, the younger and more war game interested of the group, Including David A. Wesely, Dan Nicholson and Pete Gaylord split from the rest and began meeting at Arneson's house instead.

So what was Arneson like as a player? Michael Mornard describes him like this:

"And yeah, Dave is a SUPER bad-ass player. You'd never know it talking to him out of context. Sweetest guy in the world. And then at the gaming table, he suddenly eats your spleen."

One of the more epic moments in Dave's career as a player was in David Wesely's Braunstein 4: Banana Republic, as Wesely recalls:

"He lied, swindled, improvised, and played his character to the hilt. He came to the game with fake CIA ID he’d mocked up, so when another player “captured” and searched him he could whip them out. Other players were still moving pieces around the board and issuing orders like a wargame while Dave Arneson was running circles around them and changing the whole scenario. He was winning the game entirely by roleplaying.
You may think of Dave Arneson as one of the godfathers of GMing, but even before that he was the godfather of players. He was, literally, the proto-player."

Over at the Comeback Inn Forum, Jeff Berry fondly remembers Dave playing Captain Harchar in Professor Phil Barker's Tekumel games:

"He was just one heck of a lot of fun; like a lot of his friends, he was very fast on his feet and very, very smart. He threw himself into any role that he took... Dave's showing up out at Phil's was always a good indicator that it was going to be a good night; we'd just hang on to the roller coaster, and watch the fun unfold."

If you have been asking yourself where Dave Arneson got all his ideas and creativity from then perhaps this is could be the answer. Creativty comes from passion, and we know that one of Dave's true passions was games, whether running them as a judge or DM, or enjoying them as a player.

Image source.

-Havard

3rd Annual David L. Arneson Maritime Miniatures Event Report

2011-04-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the time of the 3rd Annual David L. Arneson Maritime Miniatures Event. As I mentioned when I first announced this about a month ago, the event took place at the Fantasy Flight Games Event Center in Roseville, Minnesota. The miniatures game was announced to take place on Saturday, but as things developed, it ended up taking the entire weekend, featuring among other things Dave Arneson's character, Captain Harchar. At the Comeback Inn, Chirine Ba Kal reported the following from the event:

"We had eight players for the first game and six for the second, and lots of people who stopped by to have a look and talk about Dave and Harchar. Things ended about ten pm, and we loaded out by eleven pm.

I had a business breakfast meeting on Sunday, after which we did the load-in back into the game room, and then had another RPG session from two pm to six pm to resolve the Dire Peril from Friday's game. Dinner after that, and then back into the game room to tell gaming stories.

Clean-up this morning from six am to now (11:30 am), and that was that.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time, or that's what they told me; I'm way too close to the thing to be objective. The players, the people who dropped by, and the Event Center staff were all very impressed by the tables and the games, so I think we can call this one a success. We handed out a lot of flyers and took a lot of pictures, and I'll get those sorted out as soon as I can.

The planning for the next event is already started, and I'm both startled and delighted with the way that people here and outside the Twin Cities want to make this a bigger and better event; Dave had both a lot of friends and a lot of influence on our shared hobby and I'm touched at the happiness that we managed to generate this weekend. It was a lot of work, and I'm exhausted; next year, though, more people want to help out on the organization side of the event and I'll be able to concentrate on the game side of things."

More about this years event and future events will be revealed here.

-Havard

Encounter Magazine #4 is out!

2011-04-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Encounter Magazine, featuring Classic D&D material was released this weekend. As usual Jesse Walker is doing a great job compiling high quality articles from a number of talented writers. I especially liked the adaptations of the World of the Dark Crystal for Classic D&D. Also, as a bonus, there is a quote from a Blackmoor module on page 1 of the pdf!

Encounter #4 can of course be downloaded for FREE from www.encountermagazine.au2.com

-Havard

You are playing it wrong!

2011-04-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make: I have always been a bit reluctant to embrace the so-called OSR. Why? Because, frankly I have not always felt welcome among those who call themselves Old School gamers. On various forums and blogs there are always people trying to define what Old School gaming is about. And when I read some of these posts, I get them impression that they think that I am playing the game wrong.

The very first post on the Grognardia Blog had a statement which I liked:

"I don't think the history of roleplaying games since 1974 has been one of continual decline, but I do think a lot of good stuff has been lost or at least forgotten since then. One of the purposes of this blog is to discuss that good stuff and its importance for and applicability to the hobby today."

Since then I have seen Maliszewski use terms like the age of decadence on the period from 1981 and onwards. Was the initial mission statement forgotten? As someone who got into gaming 1980s, I find it hard to accept that everything that has shaped my experience with D&D as a result of decadence.

However I do like Grognardia's original idea of finding the good stuff that has been forgotten from ages past. If there is something looking into the original Blackmoor game has taught me, it is that the game cannot be played wrong. If you want to add space ships, dinosaurs or aliens in your game, then do it! Old School should not be about limitations but about freedom. As Gary Gygax said, "if you are having fun, you are doing it right."

Now this is the kind of Old School movement I can get behind. If Tavis is right, in his recent post on the Mule Abides blog, about how the Old School movement is fighting for the DIY attitude and preserving the original miracle of gaming then that is an OSR that I can be a part of. If it OTOH, is an elitist club of grumpy (wanna-be) old men telling me how to play my games, then I have no interest in it.

Image Source: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/11/ask-chris-49-dandd-with-super-heroes/

-Havard

Rob S. Conley's Blackmarsh Setting

2011-04-09T05:12:00.000-07:00

Blackmarsh Cover

According to Rob S. Conley's excellent blog, the Blackmarsh Setting is ready to be released through the Print on Demand company Lightning Source in about a week or so. Blackmoor fans will find many similarities between this setting and Arneson's world. The map for it was created through a process believed to be the same as what Arneson did when coming up with his map for Blackmoor. However, the author is quick to point out that:

"Blackmarsh is a homage to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor. But it is not a clone. The elements that it shares are; drawn from a map of holland, has a castle with a dungeon underneath where access is controlled by the elves, an elven forest, vikings roaming around, and there is a larger kingdom to the southeast. Beyond that background, the locales and details are unique to the Blackmarsh setting."

In additon to these elements, Blackmarsh also has the Mountain that Fell, a meteorite that fell from the sky, creating the Smoking Bay, a seeming parallell to the crashed spaceship of Blackmoor. Conley has previously suggested that the Blackmarsh Setting could be connected to his other projects of the Southlands (From the Points of Light) and the Wild North (published in Fight On #3), both also having some connection to Blackmoor.

Castle Blackmarsh

With Code Monkey Press's Shaerdreath Setting and Dolmen Creative's Destiny6 game running into pre-production problems, could Blackmarsh be the first Arneson Tribute setting to actually get published? still, there is a fine line between homage and IP violation, and hopefully all involved in these projects will be careful.

-Havard

Arneson's legacy in BECMI

2011-04-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

When I talked about the Mirage Arcana podcast recently, Josh Sherrer asked me how I saw the relationship between OD&D and BECMI and whether BECMI could be seen as an evolution of OD&D or not.

As I replied to him this is a difficult question of course. Evolution implies improvement and I don't think I want to put myself in the position of having stated that D&D is better its predecessor. Still, both AD&D and the later versions of classic were a result of criticism that the rules in OD&D were confusing. However with any edition, there seems to be the contradiction that with every attempt at fixing a problem seems to create a new problem. Having said that, my favorite edition is BECMI. I am in general much more comfortable with 1980s material than what was made in the 1970s, possibly because I was introduced to the hobby in the 80s.

My opinion aside, I found a quote from Dragonsfoot by Frank Mentzer which may carry more weight on this subject:

"I had to stop reading Dragon magazine during the time that I was writing BECMI. Any & All ideas coming from other sources were forbidden; I had strict instructions to base D&D only on the previously published version (starting with OD&D) and, by immersing myself in that, to do the best I could in building upon that foundation and making an entire structure as close as possible to what Gygax & Arneson might have done had they continued to develop and expand it. I failed, of course. While BECMI is a reasonably coherent body of work (all the moreso since it was all from a single author, in stark contrast to TSR's usual design-by-committee approach of the '80s), my own tastes are reflected. (Especially in Immortals, which many find downright weird and generally unplayable, the latter due to their own prejudices imho.) Although Gary and I became fast friends by '83, I didn't get to know Dave until years later, for obvious reasons. Thus lacking half the salient input, the result is more a hybrid of Gary & I than of Gary & Dave. "

I always enjoy reading Frank's posts. I like how his intention indeed was to follow "what Gygax & Arneson might have done" and at the same time admitting that this was no easy task, especially since he didnt get to know Arneson until much later. It is interesting however that many of the elements found in BECMI, such as dominion rules, the mystic class and even Immortality had been touched upon in Arneson's campaign so perhaps Frank was more successful than he realized?

-Havard

[Mystara] Playing Around with Photoshop

2011-04-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

Today's entry is related to Mystara, my other favorite world besides Blackmoor. I always found the interior illustrations of the Wrath of the Immortals Rulebook to leave a little to be desired. So I began playing around on Photoshop to see if I could add some color to them. Here are a few early results:

-Havard

Spelljammer Connection Found!

2011-04-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

My fake Blackmoor Space cover, which I posted about a year ago, sparked quite a controversy. We all know Spelljammer is an acquired taste. However, when I made the cover I though of it just as an experiment. I had no idea that there actually was an official connection between the two settings.

My friend Big Mac over at the Piazza pointed me to the following:

A tradesman called The Happy Gauntlet launches from the [Blackmoor Civilization], its captain completing many voyages before stumbling into an illithid ambush. The entire crew, except for the captain's wife, Sharanger Szeltune, are destroyed by the mind flayer's mental powers. She is mortally wounded but is able to unleash powerful spells that allow her to take the helm and retreat. She then retreats to a safe world, lands her ship in a hidden location and transforms herself into an archlich.

The description above is paraphrased from the adventure "I must Go Up to the Stars Again" p 7-8 SJR1 Lost Ships. Granted, the adventure specifies that this is the Greyhawk version of the Blackmoor Civilization. On the other hand, was there really a Blackmoor Civlization on Greyhawk, or just a small region? This can be used or ignored as one wishes. It seems clear that the author, Ed Greenwood, wanted to give a nod to Arneson's setting at least.

Image Source

-Havard

Mordenkainen's adventures in Blackmoor

2011-04-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Although Gary Gygax created Mordenkainen as his first D&D character as late as 1973, I'd like to imagine that the character he played in his first RPG adventure was a sort of Proto-Mordenkainen. This first game I am referring to is of course the Blackmoor game session of the winter of 1972, when Dave Arneson and David Megarry went to Lake Geneva, which I wrote about yesterday.

According to Rob Kuntz, this game included both dungeon adventure and outdoors exploration. From what Kuntz describes, tt seems like the experience must have made a considerable impression on Gary:

"After the initial Blackmoor adventure events proceeded at a furious pace. Phone calls to Dave. Letters exchanged between the two. During this time EGG noted that he had begun crafting a “dungeon” setting similar to Dave’s Blackmoor. About two weeks after this adventure, Gary handed me a slim manuscript which had been mailed to him by David. I sat down and read for the first time the rules that David had used during it."

This was of course the beginning of D&D, but it was not the last time for Gygax and Kuntz to play with Arneson as the Dungeon Master. In 1976, those three sat down in TSR's Dungeon Hobby Shop. The two players used their legendary characters Mordenkainen and Robilar. By now, both characters were incredibly powerful and Dave had to limit the number of magical items they were allowed to bring to the table. Their destination was the City of the Gods. Dave Arneson's core group had already made several expeditions to this fabled city, most of which had been disasterous for the player characters. Kuntz and Gygax must have felt confident in their high level characters and played quite recklessly, as Dave Arneson later recalled:

"In this expedition there was a rather indiscriminate and widespread use of lightning bolts which could be observed from a multitude of points throughout the city. The use of such pyrotechnics from a very early stage in the adventure was risky to say the least and was one of the reasons that more and more wandering monsters were encountered thereafter. As the adventurers spent more and more time within the city confines they made little or no attempt to conceal themselves or their activities and so more roving creatures were drawn to their ramblings."
-Dave Arneson, Oerth Journal #6

This lack of caution nearly cost Robilar his life. Fortunately Mordenkainen was able to save his friend and the two were among the few to have survived exploring this deadly place. Details of this adventure can be found in Oerth Journal #6.

Image Source.

-Havard

David R. Megarry

2011-03-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

Dave R. Megarry (center) 1974

In 1964 a group of gamers in St.Paul Minnesota founded the Midwest Military Simulation Association. Dave Arneson joined this group when he was in high school. Another member of this group was David R. Megarry. When Dave Arneson started the Blackmoor game, Megarry was one of the players. In this game Dave Arneson presented Megarry with something that fascinated the player:

"Arneson drew up the first Dungeon map for a Blackmoor adventure that was expected to run one day and then (probably) the map would be brough back out if anyone ever went there again. We played, everyone agreed that the game had gone really smoothly, and the next day we were back out in the kingdom, escorting some merchants through the woods or whatever. Then Dave Megarry arrived with the prototype "Dungeon" game under his arm. He had distilled the complex, open-ended Blackmoor dungeno crawl into a simple but practical board game. He had also identified that, by restricting the players to a limited set of options (go left, or right, or back, and not "NbyNW for three minutes. Now can the dragons see them there or not..." the Dungeon made everything manageable. He and Dave Arneson discussed this, and from then on, the Dungeon was where most of the action was going to take place." (-David Wesely)

In the winter of 1972 Dave Arneson and David Megarry went down to Lake Geneva to present Megarry's "Dungeon!" game to Gary Gygax. During their meeting, Arneson also ran a Blackmoor game for Megarry, Gary Gygax, Ernie Gygax, Rob Kuntz, Terry Kuntz. As most of you will know, this lead to the creation of D&D in 1974. Megarry's Dungeon! game was released by TSR in 1975. Over at the Comeback Inn forum, we have been discussing how Megarry's Dungeon and Dave Arneson's Blackmoor game may have influenced eachother.

Image source

-Havard

Necro's Clark Peterson to do Pathfinder

2011-03-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

Clark Peterson formerly of Necromancer Games has announced his return to the gaming industry. Peterson gets mentioned in the Blackmoor blog because of his involvement with the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. On Monday he wrote the following:

I'm up to something. Not ready to say just what it is yet. But Paizo will be the first to know.
And it will be Pathfinder. Pathfinder is the game that has the soul of what D&D was coupled with proper changes for the modern game. That is what I want to support. Plus, I love all the people at Paizo and I love what they are all about. And the community here is just second to none.
You'll be hearing from me...

Judging based on his previous work, this is great news for the gaming industry. Now if we only could get him to work with Judges Guild and do more for the Wilderlands. Not quite Blackmoor, but almost the second best thing? :)

-Havard

D&D Rules Cyclopedia on Mirage Arcana

2011-03-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

If you are a loyal follower of this blog, you will know about my strong affection for the BECMI version of D&D, by Frank Mentzer. It should be no surprise then that one of my favorite RPG books is the D&D Rules Cyclopedia which collected almost all of the BECMI material in one single volume edited by Aaron Allston. I have just spent the evening listening to the latest Mirage Arcana podcast (ep #25!) where hosts Adrian and Craig cover this very book:

Episode 25: It's all in one book!…

As part of the D&D Month coverage, Craig and Adrian turn their attention to the mighty tome that is the Rules Cyclopedia. Dispelling myths of 'the kiddie version', we move on to our loathing of Bargle the Infamous and the childhood trauma of losing Aleena to his Magic Missiles. We discuss the races and classes, the enduring genius of the Battlesystem process of resolving mass combat, and cover the world of Mystara through the Gazetteers and the Poor Wizards Almanac. The Weapon Mastery system are discussed in terms of building adventure ideas and engaging NPCs and the Paths of Immortality are used to create truly epic stories and characters. Sprinkled throughout are practical ideas to take these concepts into your game.

So what are you waiting for? Join us for D&D Month and game hard!
It's at Mirage Arcana.

The Mirage Arcana is one of my favorite podcasts and I enjoyed listening to this show in particular. I think they did the RC justice. One interesting thing that the podcast mentions is the difference between the Advanced D&D line and the Classic D&D line, and how while AD&D became a more rafined version of Gygax' vision for what D&D should be like the Classic line preserved the spirit of the game born through the cooperation of Gygax and Arneson.

I also like that they covered alot of related topics such as Aleena/Bargle, the Isle of Dread, Legacy of Blood etc. They also mention the Piazza and a certain humble Blackmoor Blogger, which is very cool.

-Havard

The Id Monster Revealed!

2011-03-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Some time ago my friend Rafael suggested to me that I try to track down the novel the Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. Van Vogt. "The Space Beagle" part of the title itself suggests a connection to Blackmoor of course, but I was even more surprised to see the appearance of a creature, the Coeurl, feeding on the "id" of local creatures. The Coeurl originally appeared in the novel Black Destroyer, also by Van Vogt, but that entire story was incorporated into the Voyage of the Space Beagle.

I have seen discussions about the Coeurl on D&D related forums in the past, as the same creature is also the inspiration for the iconic D&D monster, the Displacer Beast. I never made the connection to Blackmoor though, before I saw the passage about the creature feeding on "id".

The First Fantasy Campaign describes the Temple of Id, ancient ruins, where a creature known as the Id Monster, lurks, though a proper description of the creature was never provided. Untill now. I'd like to think of Arneson's Id Monster as a kind of mother of all Displacer Beasts, perhaps being the one from which all other Displacer Beasts were spawned. In our PbP Blackmoor campaign, we are in the midst of a fight with such creatures right now.

Thanks to Bobjester for providing additional information and links to this article!

-Havard

The Green Man

2011-03-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

Known as the Green Man, Tamis Azkanikin is one of the most dangerous magic users in the North. It was he who instigated the Vestfold Revolt (an event organized by either the Wizards Cabal or the Eldritch Underground, depending on which version of Blackmoor you are using). The true motives of the Green Man are unknown, but he seems to hate the Regency Council with a passion. This hatred has not diminished since his revolt in Vestfold was crushed. Azkanikin was badly injured in the attack leaving him scarred for life. He has found an ally in Taha Markovic, the Duke of Marban, who shares the Green Man's desire to remove Uther from his throne.

Where did the Green Man come from? Why does he have this strong preference for wearing green? Was he in fact someone who failed becoming the next Wizard of the Wood? Or is he a spellcaster, persecuted by the Wizards Cabal for refusing to submit to their will?

Image Source

-Havard

My tribute to Jim Roslof (1946-2011)

2011-03-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Over at the Piazza, The SecretDM posted that:

"While this news is slowly working its way across the blogosphere, I noticed no one had posted a comment about it here yet. Apologies if this isn't in fact the first mention of this.

On Saturday, March 19th, Jim Roslof passed away. Jim was an artist and former employee at TSR, whose most famous picture remains the original art for the B2 module 'Keep on the Borderlands'."

One of my favorite pieces by Roslof is "Nathaire creating the Colossus", used for the back cover of X2 Castle Amber.

You can see more tribute art to Roslof at Grognardia and at the Black Gate.

R.I.P. mr Roslof

-Havard

[video] Der Hexentoter von Blackmoor

2011-03-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

DungeonDevil pointed me to this video, called Hexentoter von Blackmoor in German, although the original title was Bloody Judge. I like the German title better. ;)
Warning: this video is not for the faint of heart.

I am almost tempted to throw in some witch hunting for my next Blackmoor adventure. Or does this represent the work of the Wizards Cabal?

-Havard